Oxfam staff will evaluate the humanitarian needs, including water and health systems, and will consult with the Red Cross and Peruvian Government humanitarian response unit. Oxfam will then offer the appropriate level of humanitarian support.
Celia Aldana, spokesperson for Oxfam International in Peru said: "We are going to focus on the southern areas which are the most affected. It is really hard to tell what the full affect is, as communications are very patchy and many areas are cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges. The local media are reporting that many people are arriving in the cities from the countryside seeking help."
"I have lived through four earthquakes and can remember three of them but this has been the worst of all. The tremors lasted for minutes and were terrible. However, despite this, the damage in Lima doesn't at the moment appear to be too bad. The damage in the south is much worse"
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Statement from Oxfam America's Francisco Boeren, Deputy Director of Oxfam America's South America Regional Office in Lima.
LIMA — As aftershocks continued to hit the south of Peru, international aid agency Oxfam has arrived in the epicenter of the crisis to assess its emergency response, which will aim to provide urgent relief such as clean water for city-dwellers displaced by the earthquake and for those who are caught in remote rural areas.
Oxfam's humanitarian officer in Peru, Sergio Alvarez, today traveled to the worst hit zone, including the city of Pisco and the surrounding rural areas—which he reached on foot—and carried out an initial assessment of the devastation. More Oxfam staff including a water engineer will travel this afternoon to Pisco, a city of nearly 120,000 inhabitants. Some 665,000 people live in the wider affected region.
Alvarez said: "It is impossible to get to Pisco from Lima. The San Clemente Bridge that links Pisco with the Pan American highway has collapsed.
"All the adobe buildings in Pisco have collapsed. The modern buildings are fine. The Peruvian Civil Defense has told me that they calculate that at least 50% of the houses in Pisco have collapsed. San Andres, in Cañete, has also suffered a great amount of destruction.
"There are people trapped in their houses, and Pisco's San Clemente church collapsed while mass was underway. The news I'm receiving is that there are many dead bodies. Rescue operations are now underway but fire trucks and other rescue vehicles coming from Lima weren't able to reach the area until 11 am this morning due to the collapsed bridge. They were stuck about one and a half hours away from Pisco but are now in the area and have so far rescued six people trapped under rubble.
"Local authorities are asking for help, particularly with the distribution of medicines, tents and blankets, as many people have lost their homes. The distribution of tents has yet to be organized and there is no electricity or running water in the area. The situation is desperate, especially for those people who survived but who have lost their homes.
"Oxfam is especially worried about people in the rural areas because their houses are extremely vulnerable and they are harder to reach."
Oxfam works with partners in the area affected by the earthquake. In 2001, Oxfam responded to the earthquake in Arequipa, providing water and shelters.
The poorest areas are the ones that consistently suffer the most during and after a natural disaster. In Peru, more than 72% of those in rural areas are living below the poverty line. 49% of the general population lives below the poverty line and almost 32% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.
]]>As the emergency response begins to shift to rebuilding destroyed towns and villages, Oxfam International urged national and local authorities to take measures to reduce risk in the earthquake-prone country.
Oxfam staff working in the districts of Pisco, Humay, and Independencia have already observed that some families in affected areas have begun rebuilding their homes. They are using the same fragile materials, such as mud bricks and bamboo, to construct their new homes as before, leaving them equally vulnerable to damage and collapse if another earthquake hits.
“Reconstructing the area in the same way, in the same places, using the same materials, is a recipe for a future disaster. Government authorities must ensure that communities are informed of the basic guidelines on how to rebuild their homes to make them more resistant to severe damage or collapse,” said Jacobo Ocharán, an Oxfam Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist. “As reconstruction begins, people must learn how to build affordable earthquake-resistant structures. Our work in risk reduction in El Salvador has shown us that taking these low-cost measures can help to prevent such destruction from happening again.”
Oxfam is currently carrying out its emergency response providing clean water, sanitation services and other assistance to people in urban and remote rural areas. Once it moves into the reconstruction phase, Oxfam will also take on disaster risk reduction in quake-affected areas, tapping into its experience helping local governments in northern Peru build their capacity to respond to increasingly frequent flash floods caused by El Niño.
The national government’s reconstruction fund, FORSUR, has recently announced that, over the next one to two years, it will be providing 6,000 earthquake-resistant houses for families who lost their homes during last month’s quake, and may be providing subsidies for others to help them rebuild their lives. According to figures released by the government, nearly 45,000 homes were destroyed in the quake, and more than 13,000 were damaged.
“Families who are unable to access government-provided, earthquake-resistant houses will require extra help in learning how to make their new homes much stronger than they were before. Authorities must communicate that simple measures can be taken such as reinforcing mud bricks with straw or other fibers, improving bricklaying techniques and using light-weight roofing materials”, said Ocharán. “Most importantly, seismic experts must evaluate the ground in the region to determine whether part of the population needs to be relocated to sturdier areas.”
Efforts to help the population recover have vastly improved over the last month. Most affected families now have access to temporary shelter and community kitchens. However, life remains far from normal. Electricity is gradually being restored in the affected area but water provision in the city is still inadequate. Also, many sewers were destroyed in the urban areas and have not yet been repaired. Students who attend schools that were damaged are waiting for temporary classrooms to be built so they can return to their studies.
Economic activity is resuming slowly. Some fishermen have returned to the seas after repairing their boats. Yet many people continue to hang in the balance. The cotton harvest, which usually starts in late August, has been postponed due to possible irrigation water and electricity shortages. Several other industries have been indefinitely interrupted leaving many people in the region without an income.
Although no major illnesses have been reported, sanitation breaks in affected areas continue to present great health risks. Additional latrines are needed to ensure that public health problems do not develop, as are improvements in hygiene facilities for families living in tent camps and other temporary homes without access to showers.
Oxfam International is working with EMA Pisco, the municipal water enterprise, to provide the population with clean water. Additionally, the agency is working in San Miguel, a shantytown near Pisco where 400 families live. Before the earthquake, they had running water in their homes for only 30 minutes each day. Oxfam is providing them with a 45,000-liter water tank that now allows these families access to water for most of the day. Oxfam has also distributed 200 tents and temporary shelter materials to Humay, Independencia, and Túpac Amaru.
“As the rebuilding begins, we must make sure that communities are better off than before by providing better water systems and ensuring that new homes are more structurally sound than they were in the past. It is essential that authorities involved in the reconstruction engage with the local population to avoid spontaneous rebuilding by families and individuals. People must be aware of how to prevent such a tragedy from happening again,” said Ocharán.
]]>LIMA — Upon the completion of its humanitarian needs assessment in southern Peru, international aid agency Oxfam has today reported that thousands of people living in rural areas urgently need all forms of aid.
Over the course of the next several days, Oxfam will provide immediate assistance, including shelter, clean water and sanitation services, to some 2,000 families in some of the remotest areas hit by the earthquake.
"The areas outside of Pisco have also been devastated," said Sergio Alvarez, Humanitarian Lead for Oxfam International in Peru. "The urban areas are being better attended but the rural areas and the city's outskirts have received very little attention so far."
On Friday, the Oxfam team also traveled to rural areas close to Ica, visiting seven communities.
"Our assessment team went as far as they could on the highway, until we found that it was blocked by part of a hill that had fallen onto the road. We saw many people walking in search of food and met others who were trying to walk to the highest Andean communities, because they have had no news about the fate of their relatives," said Alvarez.
In two towns, Humay and Montesierpe, all homes have totally collapsed.
"Only a few communities have water wells which means they will not have water even when electricity comes back," said Alvarez. "The other main concern is that these villages are running out of food, and as of now, they are receiving very little or no aid at all".
The assessment team also found that while some rural communities have been able to find some water by walking to rivers or small streams, it is unclean and drinking it may lead to disease.
According to Alvarez: "Although aid is thankfully beginning to reach the center of Pisco, the large population living farther away remains virtually stranded by the outside world. The longer they are without clean water, the more likely that potentially life-threatening disease will spread."
"Also, we have not seen any latrines being built in Pisco itself. Families are using toilets that aren't functioning. This further increases the possibilities of public health issues and is one of Oxfam's main concerns."
The poorest areas are the ones that consistently suffer the most during and after a natural disaster. In Peru, 49% of the population lives below the poverty line and almost 32% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.
Oxfam America is accepting donations through its Peru Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund.
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